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Spads and Spandaus
Spads and Spandaus is a short story which was first published as the 8th chapter of the very first Biggles book The Camels are Coming. The story was subsequently republished in The Modern Boy Issue 264, 25th February 1933 where it was given the title The Flying Circus, probably an allusion to the fact that in the story, Biggles and his R.F.C. colleagues encounter Richthofen's "Flying Circus". The story also appeared in edited form in Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter and Biggles of the Royal Flying Corps. Synopsis A new and inexperienced American fighter squadron has just arrived on the front. Wilks and Biggles meets the brash and over-confident commander and realise that the Americans will be outmatched and outnumbered when they encounter Richthofen's "Flying Circus" when they go for their first patrol the next day. So our friends plan to bring their own 287 and 266 Squadrons to the battle to assist. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Wilks makes a forced landing at Maranique. His S.E.5 has been heavily damaged while fighting outnumbered in a dogfight in which he has lost two wingmen. He tells Biggles that von Richtofen's circus has just moved in opposite them in their Albatros fighters. On the ground Wilks saw large numbers of downed British aircraft. Seeking to relax, Wilks and Biggles repair to Clarmes for lunch. There they meet an American pilot. He is the commander of the 299th Pursuit Squadron and they are moving up to the front in their sector tomorrow. The American is brash and arrogant and offers and offers to give them a tip or two. Biggles gives him advice to cross the line only above 15 thousand feet. The American is unreceptive. Alone with the American, Wilks explains to the American what Biggles had meant. He gives him some background to the formidable Richtofen circus which will be the main threat in their sector. Anyone meeting them would need the advantage of height. Coming back from the lunch, Biggles and Wilks realise that tragedy is in the offing. The inexperienced American squadron is likely to make their first patrol the next day and they would be slaughtered. Wilks and Biggles can't allow that to happen and so work out a plan. The American squadron would be the bait. They would bring every Camel and S.E.5 they could and stay up high to pounce on Richtofen's circus when it shows up. Major Sharp of 287 Sqn and Major Mullen of 266 both decide to throw the entire resources of their two squadrons into the plan and lead the formations themselves. Soon after crossing the line, Biggles spots the formation of American Spad aircraft below. As he feared, they had ignored his advice and were flying low. Worse still, a large formation of German Albatros were heading for them and they had not seen the threat. The British fighters dive into the fight and after a hard fight, drive off the German fighters. Biggles shoots down an Albatros and is also saved by the timely intervention of an American fighter. The American squadron commander lands at Maranique to thank Biggles for his help. He him he looks forward to meeting him again and getting more tips. Biggles tells him that he and Wilks would probably be at Clarmes for dinner and invites him to join in. Characters *Biggles *Wilks *Major Mullen *Major Sharp *Chadwicke *Browne *Captain MacLaren *Captain Mahoney *Batson *Healy *Unnamed American pilot, commander of the 299th Pursuit Squadron Aircraft *Sopwith Camel *S.E.5 *Spad S.VII *R.E.8 *Albatros Places Visited *266 Squadron, Maranique *Clarmes *Mossyface Wood Mentioned *Le Cateau Editorial Changes *One instance of "Hell!" changed to "Strewth!" and one instance of "My God" changed to "My Gosh" when the story reappeared in Pioneer Air Fighter. Reverted to the original in subsequent appearances. *At the end of the story, Biggles invites the American pilot to "tear a chop and knock a bottle or two back". This reference to alcohol is removed in Pioneer Air Fighter but put back in subsequent appearances. Other Research Notes *Aerial Victories: Biggles 1. A "jazzed" Albatros. *The American unit mentioned is the 299th Pursuit Squadron. Also mentioned are the Escadrille Lafayette and the Escadrille Cigognes *Wilks mentions that at this point Biggles has 12 aerial victories plus 5 balloons. Wilks himself has 18 aerial victories. *A number of aces from Richthofen's Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG1, also nicknamed "Richthofen's Circus) are mentioned: Manfred von Richthofen, Lothar von Richthofen, Gussmann, Wolff, Weiss, Karjus, Reinhard, Lowenhardt, Udet. References to the past Incongruities *See chronology below for anachronisms. Chronology (see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories) *A number of specific items mentioned in the text point to two possible times for this story. Either way there will be anachronisms. *The first option is to follow the general timeline and sequence of the stories in The Camels are Coming. This story comes before the arrival of Algy in chapter 11 (August 1917) and so it would be around June-July 1917.Ward Powers. "What Happened to Biggles in WW1?" ''Biggles Flies Again'' Vol. 3 No. 1, June 2009. **For June-July 1917: ***The text specifically mentions "not a cloud broke the serenity of the summer sky". ***Richthofen's Circus, Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG1) was formed on 24th June 1917. The text mentions that they have just moved in. ***At this point, JG1 would indeed have been equipped with the Albatros as mentioned in the text. ***Batson and Healy would still have been Biggles' wingmen, as stated in the text. Batson was killed shortly before Algy arrived in Aug 1917. **Against June-July 1917: ***At this point, Richthofen's score would have been in the 50s and not 70s as Wilks states. ***A more fundamental problem: although the U.S. declared war on Germany in April 1917, American troops did not arrive in France in large numbers until 1918. The first American squadron, the 103rd Aero Squadron only arrived in February 1918. To fit the 1917 timeline we have to assume the 299th was an "early adopter" unit formed from already experienced American flyers from the Escadrilles Lafayette and Cigognes (these units are mentioned). Plausible but not historically based. *The second option is to place the story in February-March 1918 but before 21 April 1918 when Richtofen was killed. **For February-March 1918: ***It fits the political context. American squadrons would have started arriving by this time. ***Another of the JG1 pilots mentioned, Ernst Udet, joined in March 1918. ***Richthofen's 70th combat victory was on 26th March 1918.List of victories of Manfred von Richthofen **Against February-March 1918: ***But then it wouldn't be summer--this would be the spring of 1918. It can never be summer 1918. Richthofen was killed by then. ***Batson would have been killed long before. ***Algy is not mentioned but there are other 1918 stories where this also happens. So we can fudge this. ***JG1 would have been in the theatre for 8-9 months not only just moved in. ***JG1 would be flying the Fokker Dr.I triplane and not the Albatros by this time. ***Kurt Wolff, one of the JG1 aces mentioned by Wilks, was killed in October 1917. *It is just possible that in the context of The Camels are Coming as it was first written, Johns probably did intend to set Spads and Spandaus in Feb-Mar 1918. The entire sequence of the stories looked like they were set in 1918. Hence the book starts with The White Fokker which must be 1918 because of the Fokker D.VII, and ends clearly in Nov 1918 with The Last Show. In this context, it seems Johns intended to set Spads in the sequence and hence it would be Feb-Mar 1918. But even here there would be problems. White Fokker must come before Spads because of Biggles' captain rank but White Fokker has a Fokker D.VII which must come after Richthofen was killed because the type was introduced after his death.... *It must therefore be left to the reader which option he takes. It depends on which fact he wants to give priority to and which anachronism to accept. Publication History *''The Camels are Coming'', John Hamilton, 1932 *''The Modern Boy'', Issue 264, 25th Feb 1933 (as The Flying Circus) *''Biggles in the Camels are Coming'', Boys' Friend Library, 1938 (as The Flying Circus) *''Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter'', Thames, 1954 and reprints *''Biggles of the Royal Flying Corps'', Purnell, 1978 *''Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter'', Armada, 1982 and reprints *''Great Flying Stories'', edited by Frederick Forsyth, Bellew, 1991, and subsequent editions *''Biggles: The Camels are Coming'', Red Fox, 1993 and subsequent reprints and editions *''The Camels are Coming'', Norman Wright, 2010 References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:World War One era short stories Category:Work in progress